Two Birds, One Stone

“Praises to you. You have succeeded in reaching the fourth floor landmark.”

“...what?”

The three of us had stepped through the bright white door that served as our exit from Alex’s trial, prepared to encounter another floor full of tricks and groups of Tori that would prove to be as difficult as the other floors had been. Instead, the three of us are immediately greeted by a floor guardian that stands above an altar, with large balance scales behind it. The balance scales are tipped heavily towards one side, with the heavier side being overfilled with black Tori blood; so much so that a large puddle forms underneath the heavier side of the scales.

The surrounding area appears to be similar to the heaven-like area we had seen when facing off against Alex; but instead of bright white clouds, they are all black. And instead of a white bright light, only a dark red light encompasses the area. Rain continuously falls throughout the entire area, and as I reach my hand out, I realize that the rain is human blood. However, instead of it dirtying us even further than we are, it acts as a cleanser, purifying us clean from the Tori blood and even washing Chen clean from Alex’s blood.

The memory of my meeting with Nakai Shinji’s group comes to mind, and especially that of the final mark to be tested against.

The mark of the devil.

I’m getting a bad feeling about this.

“The nestling, Nehman Ho. Chen Xi. Natalie Varquez.”

The guardian faces the ground and becomes silent for a brief moment, making the three of us feel uneasy. While Natalie and Chen continue to look away from the floor guardian to avoid troubling their body temperatures, I continue to face the guardian head on, as I have done since fully realizing my ‘kink’.

Finally, the guardian lifts its head back towards us, “Access has been granted to the first floor onset.”

My left eyebrow raises up, “...none of this is making any sense. What happened to the rest of the floor? The groups of Tori? The trial?”

“There are no more creatures remaining on this floor. And the trial has already been completed on your behalf.”

“...by who?” Natalie asks, concerned.

“By the nestling, Nora Thorson.”

Another nestling…like me?

Nora…the beautiful girl with blonde braids and a cane.

“What is a nestling, by the way?” I ask.

“A nestling is one who has never respawned, and therefore hasn’t been through the rebirth experience.”

“Ah…so like me…she’s never been killed in here…even if she’s been here for much longer than I have…” I state while chuckling awkwardly, “And she even went out her way to clear the path for us…how reassuring. Perhaps she took a liking to me after all.”

“You’re looking a little pale, you know,” Natalie says as she knocks her fist into my arm.

Of course I am.

After everything Alex mentioned, it seems that either he or Nora has been by Nakai Shinji’s side the longest. That’s nearly since the inception of this place.

And after everything Christoph mentioned about them being through thousands of cycles, it would mean that even through the thousands of times the others died…she’s the only one, perhaps aside from Nakai Shinji…that has never died…

Not even once.

I glance towards Natalie with an awkward smile, “You’re imagining it.”

Natalie blushes brightly, and nods her head. She begins to reach her hand up to the crown of my head, leaving me puzzled as to what she is doing.

However, the next moment takes me by complete surprise, as I am forced to see Natalie's arm being sliced open by a sharp blade on the running end of a chain. I jump back with my eyes wide open in shock, as Natalie falls to her knees, clutching onto her bloody arm..

“Chen!” I scream while glaring towards the culprit, “Are you insane?! What’s the matter with you?!”

As I look towards Chen’s crazed expression, I realize that the monster I seemingly released on the previous floor…has only grown in spirit.

“You sold me out. In your previous cycle, you were one of those who orchestrated me being sold to Bruno…weren’t you?” Chen asks Natalie, who only glares back.

“And so what if I was?!” Natalie snaps back, “You left my party to die! Yet, here I thought we were trying to leave all that in the past!”

“I would have just killed you a long time ago,” Chen aggressively spits out, “But I knew feeding you to Nakai Shinji and his dogs would be a better choice,”

“You know, I was starting to think the same thing!” Natalie aggressively retorts, as she slowly stands back up to her feet, “Killing you isn’t enough. I need you to be erased entirely!”

“What is the matter with you two?!” I ask, stunned by the sudden rise of aggression, “I know the two of you could never get along before…but as I said back on the fifty second floor, we have to put the past behind us if we want to reach the top-”

Chen immediately points towards me, with a bloodthirsty expression, “And you…I was going along with your bullshit because I didn’t want to die for good, but I’m still sick of being around you! After everything you put me through, did you really think I would play coy with you forever?! At this rate, slicing you into mush would grant me enough satisfaction to balance out having to be erased from existence!”

A cheeky smile appears, “…what did you just say?”

“Ah hell, what’s the point of all this anyways?!” Natalie screams out, “I just wanted to find how to could manipulate you for my own personal gain and get out of this hellhole for good…now I have to deal with this bitch’s newfound thirst for blood and your annoying growing ego? No thank you!”

Natalie whips out her bow, and attempts to use the remaining part of her to aim her quartz covered arrows towards the two of us.

“I’ll be meeting Nakai Shinji by myself!” Natalie screams out, before smiling confidently, “It was always going to end this way, anyways. The both of you having to die in order for me to have a plea deal with him was always part of the plan. Let’s just call this…a fasttrack.”

So that’s why she was reaching out to my head earlier. Perhaps to consume some of my power in the way Chen did, and then use it as a scapegoat to claim she was forced into this by me.

Not bad. Not bad at all. I did technically force her into this, but she also saw value in the plan. Getting to the big bad boss may help her finally get to Pandora…

Not bad, Not bad at all…

I begin to laugh, “That glutton kink you have sure is something after all. It’s not just that you eat off from others, but you allow others to eat off from you. You even got me to trust you enough to get close to me. Keeping you by my side just as much as you are keeping me by yours, until you can get to the end goal and dump me for the better target.”

I glance towards Chen, who still carries her bloodthirsty expression towards me, before returning my gaze to Natalie.

“Bruno was right. You always look out for yourself in the end.”

Natalie suddenly whimpers in pain, as she looks down to see three serpents biting her ankles and draining out her kink. Her eyes open wide in shock, realizing that I had already attached them to her this entire time, which prompted her to expose herself without meaning to.

“...when did-”

“As soon as we entered this place. The mark of the devil’s power is already at work. It’s the reason why we have all been cleared to move through. However, it’s also the reason why tensions have unexpectedly risen. Not all of us will be able to move through…” I point towards the scales behind the floor guardian, “...not until they are evened out.”

One of the three serpents grabs hold of Natalie’s quiver that holds the quartz arrows, and brings them over to me. Natalie falls to her knees once again, while struggling to reach her hand out towards me.

“Please…I don’t want to go out like this.” Natalie whimpers.

“Shhh,” I whisper as I place my index finger over my lips, “Don’t worry. You won’t.”

Chen’s chains fly directly towards Natalie’s head and beheads her on the spot, but her position remains focused on me. I slowly glance over towards Chen with a confident smile.

“It seems you were willing to get the job done for me. Well done.”

Natalie’s lifeless body disappears, before reappearing atop the other side of the unbalanced scales. The weight of Natalie’s sacrifice tips the balance to a more favorable position, but stops halfway.

“And there you have it,” I say while still staring towards Chen, “It seems only one of us will be leaving this place alive.”

Chen grits her teeth, “If I kill you, then no one leaves this place alive.”

“An interesting thought…but you cannot kill me.”

Chen fixes her chains to her side, “Don’t be so sure. I am a trained killer, unlike you.”

“There lies the difference between you and me…you are a trained killer…I am a born one.”

Chen sighs and looks down to the floor, but her anger clearly does not subside. Silence ensues, leaving only the pitter patter of blood rain making noise against the wet floor. I continue to stare towards Chen, and my confident smile wanes.

No matter how you look at it…she really is one hell of an ally.

“I don’t want to kill you, Chen,” I state, “That’s the reason I gave you the mark of the lover when I did.”

“...you don’t want to kill me because without me there alongside you, you will more than likely die. Even to any cuts and wounds from objects.”

“...yes.”

“...I’m glad for this to be honest. I did swear I would do whatever it takes to kill you for everything you did. First, you take my mark for yourself. Then you make me your savior, forced to heal every damage you take. Then, you subconsciously unlock the part of myself I have been trying to subside, ruining every bit of effort I had taken to better myself as a human being.”

Chen looks back up, and while holding tightly to one of her chains, she holds out her thumb horizontally, before moving it downwards, “It’s about time I hold to my word…while also being erased in order to atone for my sins,”

“...there’s no way to avoid this, is there?” I ask, saddened by the situation.

“...you and I both know this is the only way.” Chen responds, with a hint of sadness coming from her voice as well.

After a brief pause, and the sounds of the rain blood dropping onto the wet floor, the movement of feet moving through the puddles comes forth, as Chen moves swiftly towards me with a crazed expression. I stand in place and hold out my open hand towards her, still holding the same saddened expression.

I could order the mark of the witch to find a way to defeat her quickly. I could use the mark of the king to pin her to the floor until she is grinded into dust.

Chen swings her chains forward, and the sharp blades at the running ends fly towards my head. I remain in place, allowing them to pierce my skull, only to have them drop out smoothly afterwards and leave scars on my head.

I could encompass myself with the mark of the beast and pounce on her like a predator would its prey. I could even take out the mark of the lover to turn her into a branch, leaving her immobile.

As Chen reaches my position with her hands reaching out towards me, I move forward as quickly as possible in order to catch her off guard. Chen’s expression turns from bloodthirst to shock, as I hold onto her cheek softly and stroke it one final time. In what appears like slow motion to the speed in which I am moving, Chen’s expression turns from shock to acceptance, realizing that no matter what she does, she won’t be able to kill me after all.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper softly.

In the next instance, Chen’s body implodes in the same way Christoph’s had done, but in a much less aggressive way. Instead, it appears as if her body smoothly transitions from flesh into blood, as Chen disappears entirely, leaving only a small glowing branch mixed in with the blood. The rain blood begins to cleanse the blood that signifies Chen, washing her away completely.

“You were never someone that should have been in here,” I whisper, even knowing that Chen could no longer hear my words of affection.

After a brief moment of silence, I turn towards the floor guardian’s position, only to see Nora now sitting cross-legged with her cane placed on her lap. A black cloud of blood rain showers over Nora specifically, which is something I had not noticed happening to her before. I glance to the area behind her to see that the scales now balance out evenly, and a bright white door is now located at the center.

“Congratulations, Mr. Nehman.” Nora says while closing her eyes, “You have completed the last trial.”

“At what cost?” I reply, irritated.

“Fortunately for you, my power is simple. It grants you whatever you most desire, which was noticed as soon as you all entered this floor. You all wished to get through this quickly, so everything you should have faced together has been taken care of.”

Not too far off from the mark of the witch, then.

“However?” I ask sternly.

“...however…for every action, there must be a reaction. And for every bargain, comes a fair trade.”

“Why did it have to be two? Why couldn’t it be one?”

“I am not in control of that, I’m afraid. The mark simply deemed it appropriate.”

“That’s a crazy power, you’ve got. It makes sense why you have never been killed in this place.”

“...it’s not that simple. For every situation that I wanted to survive, I had to give something in return. My eyes, my organs, my ability to walk. All has been taken in order for such an occurrence to exist.”

Nora holds up her cane with both of her hands, “I am now but an empty shell, only capable of doing as my lord bids.”

“...I see,”

I move swiftly in front of Nora, and grab hold of the cane, before tossing it away.

“And now…”

The serpents grab hold of Nora head and pry open her mouth by force, as she tries to resist but remains to unable to shake them off. As I stand calmly above her, I hold out the glowing branch that belonged to Chen, and stick it into her mouth.

“...your chain of command…is now under new management.”